DuJuan
McCoy, the owner of KIDY, said he believed such arrangements were
necessary in small markets. It can cost up to $1 million to run a TV
news operation in a market the size of San Angelos. It is very
difficult, if not impossible, to generate enough revenue to justify the
expense for a locally produced newscast, he said.
Advertisers,
he and other television executives say, have new options nowadays,
including their own Web sites and pages on social media sites, which cut
out the TV middlemen. KLST and KSAN are like two flavors of ice cream,
chocolate and mint chocolate chip intended to attract more people than
just one flavor would.
Public
interest groups have criticized the cutbacks at local newsrooms because
they reduce the number of editorial voices in a given market. They
assert that because TV stations hold licenses to the public airwaves,
they have a responsibility to serve local communities. The same
cookie-cutter content above a different graphic doesnt cut it, said
Craig Aaron, the head of Free Press, a nonprofit media reform group that
has gathered case studies of sharing by stations.
Worst
of all, maybe, is that well never know whats missing what dirt
isnt being dug up, what questions arent asked, what stories are going
uncovered, Mr. Aaron said, calling the sharing covert consolidation.
Some
station owners say they would prefer to have more overt consolidation.
They share, they say, because federal media ownership rules forbid them
from outright ownership of more than one of the top stations in a single
market. (Many exceptions exist, however, called duopolies.)
If
Nexstar could own both KLST and KSAN in San Angelo, for instance, we
could generate further efficiencies, Mr. Sook said, and some of that
additional operating income would be reinvested into the local news
product. That outcome, however, would still diminish the media
diversity of the market, a major goal of the governments ownership
rules, which are now undergoing a review.
Either
way, for some people, the dearth of competition is an opportunity. For
Mr. Meighan, the San Angelo city spokesman, having just one TV reporter
at City Council meetings (rather than three or four) gives him more
reason to reach citizens directly through a city-produced cable channel and YouTube channel.
What we try to do what weve had to do, really is get our message out through other means, he said.
Originally published by The New York Times.